


Episode 3: One Step Ahead

by PitoyaPTx



Series: Clan Meso'a [3]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Black Sun (Star Wars), Clan Ordo, Clone Wars era, Gen, Mandalorian, Mandalorian Culture, OCs - Freeform, Tatooine (Star Wars), moisture farmer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-19 13:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17602514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitoyaPTx/pseuds/PitoyaPTx
Summary: "I don't like where this is going.." ~BeonNothing says "I trust you" like actively lying to someone.





	Episode 3: One Step Ahead

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: I know I tagged it as such, but this is a little graphic. You've been warned!

“Come now, Cara, don’t be like that,” the woman sneered, gripping the girl by the cheeks so hard her teeth began to ache, “What do you think of my new look?”  
Cara winced as she was forced onto her knees and made to look up at the blinding sun barely obscured by her attacker. If she weren’t in mortal danger, maybe she could appreciate the finely made pectoral and shoulder furs. The jade was a little worn but in the harsh light it still sparkled against the soft orange-and-teal fabric peeking out from between the tiles. From the her neck, Cara’s eyes traveled down to the three huge teeth hanging from the pectoral. They weren’t as worn as the jade, but Cara thought she saw a red stain where the ivory beads connected on either side. Leata threw back her silky brown hair, red eyes sparkling dangerously as her blood red lips contorted into a toothy grin. Maybe she was beautiful, but to Cara she always looked like an albino serpent beneath her dark curtain of hair.   
“You like?,” she shook her shoulders, ruffling the furs, “Got it from an old friend. Said it was valuable, but who would sell something like this?”  
She gestured horizontally; her smile deepened as she leaned forward, gripping Cara’s face even tighter.  
“Blood’s real too, sweetie,” she hissed, “Now, when’s your pa coming back? Be a good girl and don’t lie to me this time, ok?”  
Tears welled up in Cara’s eyes; her teeth felt like they were going to crack under the pressure, and yet-  
“I..I dnt knw,” she managed through Leata’s iron grip. Leata wagged her finger disapprovingly.  
“You know I don’t like your lies,” she whispered so softly Cara could barely hear it over the idling speeders, but she felt the danger in her core.  
Leata looked her over, appreciating the terror on the teen’s face, then straightened up and turned to her cronies. She swirled one finger in the air and they hopped off their speeders, the Devaronian circling the house to the right and the human to the left.  
“I’ve got the shot,” Fent whispered despite being well out of earshot up on the cliffs.  
The valley Wiltso’s farm sat on was ideal for a Western monopoly on water but too far away from the majority of the farming complexes to receive aid during an emergency. With a lack of regular employees, Fent always figured the old man was either too cheap or too poor to buy into one of those protection programs. When you’re under the thumb of the Black Sun, you don’t have many options.  
Beon tracked the thugs until they disappeared around the building towards the storage cellar.  
“If I can get it off quick enough-”  
Fent snickered, “You haven’t made a double tap since that job on Balmorra.”  
“And yet you still trust me to do them?”   
“When have I ever had good judgement?”  
“Eyes on Cara!” Beon brought his scope back over the pair still in front of the house.  
Fent swore, “Bastard is going to break her face! Alright, double tap. I got the broad.”

Cara whimpered and struggled with Leata’s ankle as the heel of her boot dug into Cara’s neck. The enforcer laughed, the furs bouncing on her shoulders, the teeth sliding against the pectoral with a dry hiss.  
“You know why I don’t like lies?” she bent low, putting more pressure on Cara’s face, “Lies hurt. Lies can send you on a wild tauntaun chase into the desert for a grimy little girl and her grimy little father.” Leata spat the last three words, eyes soaked in perverted enjoyment at the girl whimpering below her.  
She sighed and held out her fingers, feigning boredom as she looked over her neatly trimmed nails. “So, I decided to tell a lie of my own. Want to hear it?”  
Cara manage to shake her head ever so slightly. Leata giggled.  
“Too bad, I’m going to tell you anyways,” she removed her foot from Cara’s face.  
Cara shot up and cupped her bruised jaw, but Leata swatted her hands away and took hold of her cheeks once more. Leaning in so close Cara could smell the exhaust trapped in the folds of the furs, Leata whispered:  
“I’m not here for your father this time,” a demented smile cut across her features, her red eyes lit up like the twin suns on a clear afternoon, “I already found him.”  
Cara, tears stinging her eyes, looked up from the furs and felt her heart leave her body. Tied to the central speeder like a morbid, debased hood ornament was her father’s severed head, hat pinned to his skull by a knife. Leata laughed as Cara began to struggle and kick at her, pounding her fists into the older woman’s arms. Cackling, Leata threw her away.  
“He’ll look so nice next to your mother on the-”  
“Got it!” Fent took the shot.  
The Devaronian spooked, dropping his end of the safe he and the human were carrying.  
“Leat-” his eyes rolled and his body hit the ground before his accomplice could take cover.  
“Down and down,” Beon affirmed, making to stand up until commotion near the speeders caught his attention.  
“Vod!” he exclaimed.  
“On it!” Fent threw away his rifle, clasped his helmet tight, and dove off the side of the clifface. Three years on Hoth taught him his body was a bit tougher than he originally thought. A few weeks on Tatooine taught him how much more forgiving sand is than snow.  
He rolled for a few extra feet once he ran out of cliff, ignored the sand now wedged between his neck and collar, and charged the gap between himself and Cara. Screaming and covering her head, Cara pushed Leata’s limp body off of her and staggered to her feet. The sound of footsteps startled her and she made to run, but when she recognized that armor pattern, the sobbing returned with a vengeance, momentarily robbing her of her mobility. Fent caught her just before she collapsed back into the sand.  
“It’s alright, sweetheart,” he said quickly, half dragging her backwards toward the house and sitting her up against it. “I’ve got her. We’re clear,” he said into his wrist comm.

“Dammit...dammit!” Fent paced back and forth in atrium, Jiik projected into the room as a fully-body hologram.   
“Is there a problem?” he groaned, empty mug clutched lazily by his side.  
“Uh excuse me?” Fent spun on his heel, livid, “You waited a damn month to tell us who we were after. A month! You...you…,” he stopped, breathing far too heavy to form words.   
Cara sat at the kitchen table hunched over a bowl of soup; Beon stood in the doorway, half watching Fent and half watching Cara’s facial expressions. Slamming his helmet down on the floor and quickly tying his hair back, Fent pointed accusatorially at his mentor.   
“You knew. You knew!” he shouted, face so red he looked fit to combust.   
Jiik said nothing while his protege raged on about the butchered farmers and the now-orphaned Cara. When Fent finally paused to catch his breath, Jiik sighed.   
“Did you collect the body?”   
“Of course we did,” Fent hissed, “We’re professionals after all.”  
Jiik’s eye twitched but he chose to ignore the comment, “Good. Take the bioscan, dispose of the body, but keep the pectoral and furs. I’d like to take a look at it.”   
“What’s so special about them?” Beon asked, momentarily taking his eyes off Cara, “From our angle we could tell she was showing them off.”   
“If my hunch is right, they belonged to-”  
A loud thud on the roof made them pause.


End file.
